id Software co-founder criticizes Apple stance on iPhone games

Apple has made "horrible decisions" when it comes to third-party iPod game development and isn't very supportive of the iPhone as a gaming platform either, says id Software co-founder John Carmack, who admits butting heads with Steve Jobs over these very issues early this year.

The gaming icon, responsible for titles such as the Quake series and the upcoming Rage, is known for his long vested interest in the Mac platform. This past June, he joined Jobs on stage at the company's annual developer conference to renew his studio's commitment to the platform, announcing plans to release Rage for the Mac alongside versions for Windows and game consoles.

Carmack, in a recent interview with GameDaily, also claims to be open to bringing some of his future titles to the iPod and iPhone. However, Apple's less than ideal iPod programming tools and reluctance to allow any iPhone development until the announcement of a native development kit for February have made writing games impractical for either platform, according to the game programmer..

"The honest truth right now is that Apple's not exactly hugely supportive of [games for the iPhone]," Carmack says. "When they finally allowed games to be put on the iPod... in many ways it's one of the worst environments to develop games for. You have to work on an emulator... just all these horrible decisions."

He also holds little hope that Apple will improve its resources for developers in the future. Carmack provides more details of a heated debate he and Jobs held while at August's developer conference, noting that Jobs at the time defended his company's limitation of third-party apps to the web under the pretext of security. There have since been follow-up sessions where Apple has been briefed on what Carmack considers "mistakes" in iPod development that should be avoided with the iPhone.

Nonetheless, there aren't "any spectacular signs" that these concerns will influence Apple in the next year, he says.

Apple's seeming indifference to id Software and gaming mirrors the experience of Valve Software. The Half-Life 2 producer's co-founder, Gabe Newell, has recently recounted a cycle of neglect from Apple as the latter firm routinely agrees to listen to requests by Valve only to take no action and reportedly act as though it had never spoken before about the matter.

In spite of this pattern in Apple's approach to games as a whole, Carmack confesses that Apple has no reason to pay attention to his particular company's needs, as the current iPhone feature set is already appealing to many of Apple's customers.

"[Apple's] strategy seems to be working just fine from a business standpoint, so I'm not going to second guess them and tell them they're being fools or idiots for not focusing on this," the developer admits.

Apple's "not supportive" because the tools aren't ready NOW? It's a brand-new platform. The tools are coming. And Apple has said when.

As for the iPod--which iPod? A game for one would not work on another. The Touch tools are coming. The wheel iPods have come in a zillion flavors (the recent ones of which do have games) but none of them are the future. No need to bemoan a lack of tools for a disappearing platform, when tools are on the way for a much better one.

While I understand ID's desire to spread the gaming market for themselves and others, I really don't understand why Apple hasn't tried harder to appeal to a larger base of user. I'm a recent Mac Convert, and while I love my MacBookPro, I've been really unsatisfied with the range of games.

I've only recently switched to Mac because I've become so tired of hardware failures with my past Windows Machines and the lack or true customer service. Unfortunately it seems like Mac is becoming, or maybe has been before, a company more concerned with only a few small NEW endeavors, and isn't as concerned with the follow-up.

It seems to take a very large push from disgruntled clients to really grab Mr. Job's attention. It's really hard to know where they stand, honoring their products and the people who use them, or profiteering and forgetting about where that money came from. The only reason I say this, is because one day they are bringing out the best invention since sliced bread.... then they betray their users who are honoring the spirit of innovation and trying to open new ways of using products like the iPhone by deliberately sabotaging them because it might hurt their kick back money from a Monopoly deal.

Well, I guess I'll just put it this way. It makes it hard for me to invest more of my soul into a company that seems to become more morally suspect, the more I look into it.
This I think is most recently evident, by the way Apple just eliminated their Authorized Business Agent program. Frankly, I find it truly heartless to end it in a way like that. Wouldn't it make more sense to simply, stop issuing new licenses for the ABA program and let it fade out. I can't imagine that http://www.firsttech.com/, in my home town of Minneapolis, MN is really giving Apple retail stores a run for their money. But what they have done, is raise awareness of Mac made products for the last 30 years. (by the way I'll honestly say I think first tech is affected by this decision, but I can't be sure).

Well, it's getting late around here, and I'm sure you've all read just about enough of me. HAve a great night and Happy Turkey Weekend! (Probably not for the turkey's though)

Apple's "not supportive" because the tools aren't ready NOW? It's a brand-new platform. The tools are coming. And Apple has said when.

As for the iPod--which iPod? A game for one would not work on another. The Touch tools are coming. The wheel iPods have come in a zillion flavors (the recent ones of which do have games) but none of them are the future. No need to bemoan a lack of tools for a disappearing platform, when tools are on the way for a much better one.

It has been six years since the first iPod. Each individual iPod model has sold millions to sum up to 120m total sold iPods. BAD EXCUSES ARE BAD.

If a timely API offering is too much to ask, which it isn't, they could have opened up these devices, just thrown some internal code and docs out there with the toolchain, access to the device filesystem and full factory restore, and someone would have found a way to get results with them. APIs, preliminary and frozen, can follow at the pace they become ready.

I'd certainly have welcomed an outline viewer on an iPod, among other things.

Apple doesn't care about 3rd party development on its handheld devices. Never has. Maybe in three months we'll see the first extended hand from them - or then we'll see a bunch of anemic widgets that a code signing treadmill makes inaccessible to all but the most wealthy developer.

To my understanding, Apple is trying to sell products that fit to our digital lifestyle. We have music, digital picures, the web, and movies. I do understand that gamers should stick to their gaming systems, but I do feel that gaming plays a big role in the "Digital Lifestyle." I bet that many game developers are bummed out because the iPhone is like the coolest mobile gaming (hopefuly soon to be) platform. Screw the PSP or the DS. Imagine a multitouch game library that is stored right on the device instead of carrying cartidges or discs. That, my friend, would be awesome.